Simon Lester

On Friday, President Obama announced the rejection of Canadian company TransCanada's application to build the Keystone XL pipeline.  He offered a brief explanation here. I'm puzzled by his explanation.  The first reason he gave is that the pipeline would not have created as many jobs as

Following up on my post from last week, just to clarify, I didn't meant to suggest there is a conflict between NAFTA ISDS and TPP ISDS. I wasn't thinking about conflicts at all. (Although I also don't mean to suggest there is no conflict.

This is from Ted Posner, who left it as a comment, but I'm putting it in a separate post: My comment concerns the relationship between "investment damages" and "trade damages." Take a look at article 9.28.2 of the newly released TPP text.

This is from trade lawyer Luiz Eduardo  Salles: The TPP text has been made public. The text is yet subject to legal scrubbing by the signatories, but this version should be nearly identical to the finally authenticated text. There is great excitement with the TPP given the potentially novel disciplines

One issue I've been wondering about for a while is how TPP ISDS will interact with NAFTA ISDS (and ISDS in other FTAs between the TPP parties).  For example, if a Canadian investor in the U.S. wants to bring an investment claim, what would its options be

The TPP "Drafter’s Note on Interpretation of 'In Like Circumstances'" is here. In paragraph 2, it says:  "Articles II.4 [NT] and II.5 [MFN] do not prohibit all measures that result in differential treatment. Rather, they seek to ensure that foreign investors or

Here's another obscure TPP issue I've been following: Will there be a requirement that TPP countries adopt a minimum wage? Article 19.3 of the labor chapter says the following: 2. Each Party shall adopt and maintain statutes and regulations, and practices thereunder, governing acceptable conditions

The TPP text is now available here, among other places.  My understanding is that this is not the "legally scrubbed" text, but it should be virtually identical to the final version. Analyzing the TPP should keep us all busy for the next year or so.  I'll

Here is the European Commission's request for an ECJ opinion on the issue of who has competence to sign and conclude the EU-Singapore FTA (with implications for CETA and future trade agreements): Request for an opinion submitted by the European Commission pursuant to Article 218(11) TFEU (Opinion

Inside US Trade reports that the TPP countries are "aiming to make public" the final TPP text "before the end of this week": One source close to the negotiations said he now expected the text to be released on Friday (Nov. 6) ... The text that will